Radical Acceptance

Imagine that you are hiking in Colorado on a beautiful mountain trail. It’s breathtaking! And you’ve chosen this particular path because it’s relatively easy. Maybe you’re fit enough that you could have chosen something longer, steeper, less traveled. But today you just wanted an easy walk. As you’re walking, you come across a tree that has fallen and covered the path.

What is that tree doing here? It’s literally right in your way.

What do you do? Are you going to scream at the tree out of anger? Would it help to call the national park service to complain about why they haven’t found and removed this fallen tree? Will you physically attempt to remove it from the path on your own? Or is your best option to simply accept that the fallen tree is there and change your own behavior to accommodate it?

Once you accept that the tree exists, you can alter your behavior based on the reality that there’s a tree in your path. You can carefully step over the tree and continue on your path. It doesn’t mean that you wanted the tree to be there. It was annoying. But it’s just a momentary annoyance. Why? Because you accepted the tree was there.

How can you radically accept challenges in your life?

Can you accept the trees in the way of your own life? Can you make peace with their existence and work around it? Not that you’ll stop disliking the trees, they are in your way after all. But can you stop fighting reality so you can become unstuck and keep moving forward?

Counseling for Support in Columbia, MO

If you find yourself ruminating about difficult situations in your own life, feeling “stuck” and not knowing how to cope with the stressful situations you are facing, counseling can help. If you live in the state of Missouri, one of the therapists at our Columbia, MO counseling office may be able to help. Additionally, we offer online therapy to anyone in the state of Missouri.

When you are ready to begin making real change in your life and truly creating a life worth living, please reach out and call Aspire Counseling today at 573-328-2288. We’ll set you up with a therapist who can help you learn to balance acceptance and change so that you can look at the world around you with fresh, realistic eyes and find a path forward.